Bible Commentary - Job 27

In this chapter, Job insists that he remains righteous and declares the fate of the wicked.

Having read through this chapter, I would divide it into two main thoughts.  In the first, Job insists that he has not done anything wrong, and in the second he talks about how God punishes the wicked.  For the second section, it is possible that one could divide it into finer pieces based on subtle nuance or minor variations in theme or topic, but at a high level I think we can reasonably group it all together, so that is the path that I am taking.

Verses 2-6 establish Job’s continued righteousness and his refusal to admit otherwise.  Basically what he’s saying is that he believes he is still righteous: “my heart does not reproach any of my days” (v. 6).  He simply doesn’t believe he’s done anything wrong.  Because of that, he refuses to admit his guilt, because that would constitute a lie: “far be it from me that I should declare you right” (v. 5).

In essence, Job’s friends have been asking him over and over to admit his guilt, repent before the LORD and be restored by God to his former glory.  However, the first part of that has always been for Job to admit that he has done wrong and to ask God for forgiveness.  This is the part where Job refuses, because he simply doesn’t think he has done wrong, and to admit guilt where he has not sinned would be a lie and violate his “integrity”.  Of course, Job has been insisting on his innocence this whole time, and his friends have continued to accuse him, so this is a continuation of the same pattern.

Now that I mentioned the word accuse, I wonder if this is a larger pattern in the book of Job.  If we think back to Job chapters 1 and 2, my readers may recall that this whole story began with Satan accusing Job before God of fearing God in exchange for material blessings.  The word “satan” itself means accuser.  Since then, Job’s friends have been insisting over and over (with varying levels of directness) that Job has been sinning against God, that he needs to repent, and that this is the reason God is punishing him.  In a broad sense I wonder if Job’s friends are playing some kind of satan-like role, accusing Job of wrongs that he hasn’t committed (in much the same way that Satan wrongly accused Job of having ulterior motives for worshiping God).  I can’t really think of any strong parallels besides that, but it does suggest that “facing accusations” or false accusations could be a major theme of Job.

The remainder of this chapter, in verses 7-23, describes the fate of the wicked, which in Job’s formulation is unswervingly negative.  In general, I feel like “God punishes the wicked” is the most commonly stated philosophy in Job.  From that point of view, this chapter contributes little new material to the overall narrative.  On the other hand, the last time Job spoke about the wicked he was asking the opposite question: why do the wicked not suffer during their lifetimes?  In both chapters 21 and 24, Job is emphasizing that the wicked do not live to see their punishment, and yet here in chapter 27 it feels very much like he is contradicting himself, that Job does think the wicked are “overtaken” by terrors, swept away like by a flood or a gust of wind (v. 20), with the obvious implication that their punishment is not deferring and that they do see the wrath of God within their lifetimes.

I really don’t know what to think about this.  Is there some subtle nuance in which these two positions can be reconciled?  Am I misinterpreting Job’s intent?  Or is a contradiction genuinely intended here, with some kind of purpose or meaning that I cannot yet fathom?  I’ve tried reading two separate commentaries on Job (Rashi, and my NIV study bible) and neither of them offers a good answer here, so I don’t think I will either.

In the next chapter, Job continues his discourse and speaks about wisdom.